The Terrapins softball team needed a break. With three losses in as many games in the District Invite, the Terps had a chance to leave the weekend tournament with a win.

Trailing 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning against Columbia on Sunday, the Terps’ fortune finally turned.

After infielder Corey Schwartz singled and utility player Hannah Dewey walked, catcher Kristina Dillard brought Schwartz home with an RBI single.

Lions infielder Taylor Troutt also committed a throwing error on the play, allowing the winning run to score as the Terps grabbed the 5-4 win.

“We needed that win,” Dillard said. “It felt like a load just came off everybody’s shoulders.”

The Terps (6-13) have lost three one-run games this season, including a 5-4 loss to Georgetown on Friday afternoon. So it felt good to pull out a close win, coach Julie Wright said.

She added that softball is “at times very cruel” and it was refreshing for the team’s hard work to be rewarded with a win.

“We’ve been faced with a lot of adversity with injury and things that players are going through personally,” Wright said. “You have to weather some storms.”

Even though the team went 1-3 in Washington, Wright saw reason for optimism going forward.

“Some individuals who hadn’t quite found their groove yet really found their groove and played very well,” Wright said. “Schwartz was outstanding.”

Schwartz batted .643 over the weekend with two doubles and a triple.

“Offensively we had our best weekend to date,” Wright said. “I really liked the conversation that was happening in the dugout from hitter to hitter about the pitching that they were facing.”

The Terps averaged 4.5 runs per game in the District Invite. Over three previous tournaments, they averaged about 3.9 runs per game.

Still, consistency is a problem for the Terps. They had trouble generating offense on Saturday in an 11-2 loss to Monmouth and came up just short in a 9-7 defeat at the hands of George Washington.

Though they struggled this weekend, the Terps feel they are getting closer to finding a rhythm.

“It didn’t really turn out record-wise the way we wanted it to,” Wright said. “We did do some things that were much better, so I’m hoping that we can put together more pieces of our puzzle for the upcoming weekend.”